4 Credit Cards to Use if You Uber Everywhere

[UPDATE: Some offers mentioned below have expired and/or are no longer available on our site. You can view the current offers from our partners in our credit card marketplace. DISCLOSURE: Cards from our partners are mentioned below.]

The sharing economy has been growing rapidly over the past several years. Start-ups like Uber and Lyft are providing everyone easier-to-use alternatives to cab companies. By being able to add your credit card information directly into an app, you can pay for your ride without even pulling out your wallet.

Many credit card issuers offer extra rewards on shared rides. Of course, you’ll want to pay these rides off in full; otherwise, those extra points will get eaten by interest. And you’ll want to read the fine print of any card you’re considering to be sure it’s a good fit for your wallet. Finally, you’ll want to check you credit. Most rewards credit cards require good credit to qualify and you don’t want to risk a hard inquiry, just to receive a rejection. (You can view two of your credit scores, updated every 14 days, for free on Credit.com.)

With that in mind, here are five credit cards to consider if you Uber everywhere.

1. Chase Sapphire Reserve

The Chase Sapphire Reserve card has quickly become one of the most popular credit cards available. One of the big reasons is because it offers 3x points on travel expenses, which include Uber and Lyft rides. The card will also award you 3x points on purchases made at restaurants and 1x on everything else. When you sign up for the Chase Sapphire Reserve card, you will receive 100,000 Ultimate Reward points after spending $4,000 within the first three months (the equivalent of $1,500 when you redeem those points through Chase’s travel portal).

While the card comes with a $450 annual fee, it could be worthwhile, depending on how you spend, since cardholders receive a $300 travel credit, access to over 900 airport lounges through Priority Pass, and a $100 statement credit to cover the Global Entry or TSA Pre-Check fee. The card carries a variable purchase annual percentage rate (APR) between 16.24% and 23.24%.

Also of note for potential Uber riders that have a Chase credit card in their wallet: Now through December 31, 2016, you can earn a free Uber ride up to $30 when you use a Chase credit card to set up an account with the ride-sharing company. (Just be sure to use the code Chase: Uber.)

A Credit Card For Every Level of Credit

2. Citi ThankYou Premier Card

When you use a Citi ThankYou Premier card (see full review here) to pay for an Uber or Lyft ride, you will receive 3x ThankYoupoints. You can also earn 3x points on other travel expenses, including the purchase of gas. You receive 2x points at restaurants and on entertainment, while all other purchases earn 1x points. Unfortunately, Citi ended the signup bonus that once came with the Citi ThankYou Premier card, but it does still have a lot of great shopping and travel benefits like purchase protection, extended warranty, car rental insurance, and trip cancellation/interruption insurance.

There is a $95 annual fee, but it’s waived for the first year. The card carries a variable purchase APR between 14.24% to 23.24%, based on creditworthiness. (Full Disclosure: Citibank advertises on Credit.com, but that results in no preferential editorial treatment.)

3. Starwood Preferred Guest Credit Card from American Express

For the past couple years, Uber and Starwood have been partnered up so that you can earn bonus Starpoints when you book rides with the car-sharing service. In addition to the one Starpoint that you would normally earn for using the Starwood Preferred Guest Credit Card, you can earn an additional Starpoint for every dollar spent with Uber. If you book an Uber while staying at a Starwood property, non-elite Starwood Preferred Guest members will receive two extra Starpoints per dollar spent. If you are a Gold or Platinum member, you will receive three bonus Starpoints.

With the Starwood Preferred Guest credit card (see full review here), you can earn up to 5x Starpoints when you use your card at Starwood properties. You can also receive 30,000 bonus Starpoints after spending $3,000 with your card in the first three months. As a cardholder, you will receive two stays and five nights each year towards Starwood Preferred Guest Gold elite status.

The card carries a $95 annual fee, waived the first year, and a variable purchase APR between 16.24%-20.24%.

4. Amex EveryDay Preferred Credit Card from American Express

When you use an Amex EveryDay Preferred Credit Card (see full review here) to pay for an Uber ride, you will receive 2x the Membership Reward points. Other American Express cards can earn 2x the points back on Uber rides through a partnership the issuer has with the ride-sharing service, but what makes the Amex EveryDay Preferred deal more valuable is the fact that each month that you make 30 or more purchases with your card, your point earnings will be increased by 50%. You will also receive 3x points when you use the card at grocery stores, 2x points at gas stations and 1x points on any other purchases. You can also receive 15,000 bonus Membership Reward points after spending $1,000 within the first three months.

There is an annual fee of $95, which is not waived the first year. The card carries a variable purchase APR between 13.24% and 23.24%, after a 12-month 0% introductory APR offer expires.

At publishing time, the American Express Starwood Preferred Guest credit cards are offered through Credit.com product pages, and Credit.com is compensated if our users apply and ultimately sign up for these cards. However, this relationship does not result in any preferential editorial treatment.

Note: It’s important to remember that interest rates, fees and terms for creditcards, loans and other financial products frequently change. As a result, rates, fees and terms for credit cards, loans and other financial products cited in these articles may have changed since the date of publication. Please be sure to verify current rates, fees and terms with creditcard issuers, banks or other financial institutions directly.

Image: Michael Krinke

Sign up for our weekly newsletter.

Sign up for our Credit Report Card and receive the latest tips & advice from our team of 50+ credit and money experts as well as a FREE Credit Score and action plan. Sign up now.

Sean Bryant is a Denver-based freelance writer specializing in travel, credit cards and personal finance. With nearly 10 years of writing experience, his work has appeared in many of the industries' top publications. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics.

Comments on articles and responses to those comments are not provided or commissioned by a bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by a bank advertiser. It is not a bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.

Please note that our comments are moderated, so it may take a little time before you see them on the page. Thanks for your patience.

Certain credit cards and other financial products mentioned in this and other sponsored content on Credit.com are Partners with Credit.com. Credit.com receives compensation if our users apply for and ultimately sign up for any financial products or cards offered.

Hello, Reader!

Thanks for checking out Credit.com. We hope you find the site and the journalism we produce useful. We wanted to take some time to tell you a bit about ourselves.

Our People

The Credit.com editorial team is staffed by a team of editors and reporters, each with many years of financial reporting experience. We’ve worked for places like the New York Times, American Banker, Frontline, TheStreet.com, Business Insider, ABC News, NBC News, CNBC and many others. We also employ a few freelancers and more than 50 contributors (these are typically subject matter experts from the worlds of finance, academia, politics, business and elsewhere).

Our Reporting

We take great pains to ensure that the articles, video and graphics you see on Credit.com are thoroughly reported and fact-checked. Each story is read by two separate editors, and we adhere to the highest editorial standards. We’re not perfect, however, and if you see something that you think is wrong, please email us at editorial team [at] credit [dot] com,

The Credit.com editorial team is committed to providing our readers and viewers with sound, well-reported and understandable information designed to inform and empower. We won’t tell you what to do. We will, however, do our best to explain the consequences of various actions, thereby arming you with the information you need to make decisions that are in your best interests. We also write about things relating to money and finance we think are interesting and want to share.

In addition to appearing on Credit.com, our articles are syndicated to dozens of other news sites. We have more than 100 partners, including MSN, ABC News, CBS News, Yahoo, Marketwatch, Scripps, Money Magazine and many others. This network operates similarly to the Associated Press or Reuters, except we focus almost exclusively on issues relating to personal finance. These are not advertorial or paid placements, rather we provide these articles to our partners in most cases for free. These relationships create more awareness of Credit.com in general and they result in more traffic to us as well.

Our Business Model

Credit.com’s journalism is largely supported by an e-commerce business model. Rather than rely on revenue from display ad impressions, Credit.com maintains a financial marketplace separate from its editorial pages. When someone navigates to those pages, and applies for a credit card, for example, Credit.com will get paid what is essentially a finder’s fee if that person ends up getting the card. That doesn’t mean, however, that our editorial decisions are informed by the products available in our marketplace. The editorial team chooses what to write about and how to write about it independently of the decisions and priorities of the business side of the company. In fact, we maintain a strict and important firewall between the editorial and business departments. Our mission as journalists is to serve the reader, not the advertiser. In that sense, we are no different from any other news organization that is supported by ad revenue.

Visitors to Credit.com are also able to register for a free Credit.com account, which gives them access to a tool called The Credit Report Card. This tool provides users with two free credit scores and a breakdown of the information in their Experian credit report, updated twice monthly. Again, this tool is entirely free, and we mention that frequently in our articles, because we think that it’s a good thing for users to have access to data like this. Separate from its educational value, there is also a business angle to the Credit Report Card. Registered users can be matched with products and services for which they are most likely to qualify. In other words, if you register and you find that your credit is less than stellar, Credit.com won’t recommend a high-end platinum credit card that requires an excellent credit score You’d likely get rejected, and that’s no good for you or Credit.com. You’d be no closer to getting a product you need, there’d be a wasted inquiry on your credit report, and Credit.com wouldn’t get paid. These are essentially what are commonly referred to as "targeted ads" in the world of the Internet. Despite all of this, however, even if you never apply for any product, the Credit Report Card will remain free, and none of this will impact how the editorial team reports on credit and credit scores.

Your Stories

Lastly, much of what we do is informed by our own experiences as well as the experiences of our readers. We want to tell your stories if you’re interested in sharing them. Please email us at story ideas [at] credit [dot] com with ideas or visit us on Facebook or Twitter.